Boston Celtics get revenge vs Cavs: Tatum, Horford, Rob Williams shine

The Boston Celtics won against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night 117-113. It was a bounce back win from a loss against the New York Knicks on Monday Night and were knocked out of the No.1 spot in the Eastern Conference in favor of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Cavs are fresh off a 118-93 win against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. The Cavs have won both matchups this season in overtime on October 28 and November 2, so it was revenge time for the Celtics.

The Cavs are in 4th place in the Eastern Conference with a 39-26 record, so this matchup might be a potential playoff matchup and they play like the playoffs every time they face each other.

Jaylen Brown was back from missing Monday’s loss for personal reasons. Mike Muscala was listed as questionable with right knee tendinopathy but was active for the game.

Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers featured two elite scorers

This game was between two high scorers in Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell, and they did not disappoint. Mitchell scored 44 points while Tatum scored 41 in the Eastern Conference duel. I think Mitchell has some extra motivation to score for the Cavs given that Damian Lillard recently scored his record of 71 points, that he achieved in January.

The Celtics took off in the third quarter when they outscored the Cavs 41-26, but the Cavs were able to bring it back to four at the end of the game by several defensive plays and three-pointers by Darius Garland, but the C’s were able to hold on for the win.

All five starters reached double-figures with Tatum’s 41, Al Horford with 23, Brown with 16, Marcus Smart with 14 and Robert Williams III with 11.

Here’s the three stars of the game….

Jayson Tatum bounces back from slump for the Boston Celtics

As mentioned in the previous slide, Tatum scored 41 points in the win against the Cavaliers. This was his 9th 40+ point game this season, which only Larry Bird has more with 11 in the 1986-87 NBA season. This is Tatum’s 20th career 40+ point game and he surpassed Giannis for the 7th most points before the age of 25, which he will turn 25 tomorrow. According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is Tatum’s 34th 30+ point game which is the most since Larry Bird in 1987-88.

The majority of the points for Tatum came in the third quarter, which was when he scored 18 points, while exceeding his first half total of 17 points.

Tatum’s last game with 40+ points was when he scored 41 points in the win against the Charlotte Hornets on February 10.

Take a look at this putback dunk by Tatum from a missed three-pointer from Muscala.

Tatum had a slump recently as he had scored less than 20 points in the last two games against the 76ers and the Knicks and he had to get back to MVP form. Well, he surely got back to himself in this game as he averages 30 points a game.

Tatum also had 11 rebounds and 8 assists for the double-double performance. Only Larry Bird and John Havilcek had achieved this kind of stat line.

Tatum could echo his performance from March last year, as it was his best month last season with 32.8 ppg. This season, every month except for February he has scored at least 30 points per game each month. Since, he started the month of March with a 41-point game, that could very well happen.

Al Horford was almost perfect for the Boston Celtics

Al Horford scored a season-high 23 points in this game including 6-8 from beyond the ark. Horford made his first eight shots and his first six three-pointers. His six three-pointers is his career high in the regular season as he also had six three pointers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

Horford also had a double-double performance with 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block.

This is Horford’s third 20-point game of the season as he also had those games in the overtime win against the Golden State Warriors and the November 11 win against the Denver Nuggets where he scored 21 points.

Horford also scored on this fast break play after a turnover by the Cavaliers.

This is also Horford’s 5th double-double of the season, and the last time was against the Warriors. He also had a double-double in the last matchup against the Cavs on November 2 when he scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. In fact, the rebounding tied the highest amount of rebounds since the Cavs game as he’s had 11 rebounds four other times this season including a two-game stretch against his former teams the Atlanta Hawks and the Oklahoma City Thunder in mid-November.

Don’t expect this kind of performance from Al Horford for a while, since he’s not as much of a scorer and more of a good rebounder down low for the Celtics. Rebounding helps him score and other players on the Celtics score to win the game.

Robert Williams helped crash the boards for the Boston Celtics

Robert Williams III was the third Boston Celtics player to have a double-double performance with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

This is Williams’s 6th double-double of the season, as he had two in February against the Pistons on February 6 and the Grizzlies on February 12.

Williams is a physical presence on the court as he also had 2 blocks for the 2nd straight game, as he also had 2 in the loss against the Knicks.

Look at this tremendous flush from Williams off a dish from Horford.

Williams had perfect shooting as he was 4/4 for his field goals and 3/3 from the charity stripe as he also had a perfect shooting night with 7/7 on field goals in the win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.

This season’s Cavaliers team was unfamiliar with Williams because he didn’t play in their last two matchups due to his torn meniscus on his left knee.

Williams was competing with Evan Mobley of the Cavaliers as Mobley was the only Cavs player to have a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Unfortunately for Mobley he wasn’t as accurate a shooter as Williams as he was 6/15 on the field compared to Williams’s 4/4.

It won’t be long before the Celtics face the Cavs for their last matchup together in the regular season as in four days they will face each other again in Cleveland. Before that, the Celtics will complete their three-game homestand when they face the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks.